The present disclosure relates to computing devices, and more particularly to computing devices for use in determining and analyzing a stand status of growing crops.
The quality of the stand of a crop can have a direct impact on the quality of the harvested crop as well as on the yield and income for the person managing the crop. A crop stand can relate to one or more of a stand population, a stand consistency, and a stand quality. Stand population can refer to a number of plants that have emerged, started growth, and are healthy. Stand consistency can refer to the consistency (or, conversely, the variability) of the planting across a field or portion of a field including multiple plants grouped together and other unintended irregularities, such as skips or areas where there are no plants or a minimal number of plants. Stand quality can refer to the general health of the plant and the capability of the crop to produce a high quality, high yielding harvest.
Identifying a targeted stand and then achieving that stand has long been recognized for its importance by producers (e.g., farmers) who have made and continue to make large investments, such as in planting equipment or other operating costs, in an attempt to improve stand accuracy. For example, planting equipment can include sophisticated machinery and electronics to control and monitor various aspects of planting, such as seed depth, row unit down pressure, seed singulation, seed spacing, and the like. However, final stand quality can ultimately be influenced by numerous factors, such as seed placement, farming practices over the course of the growing season and between seasons, seed genetics, or other conditions and/or events the seed and resulting plants are exposed to after planting. Such influential factors can impact stand performance to different degrees, and can be variable from year to year, region to region, producer to producer, crop to crop, field to field, and between and within crop rows.